Flooding Lucy Park Tuesday Nature Communing

Back to Lucy Park on this final Tuesday of the 2025 version of May. The outer world was pleasantly temperatured today, making for an extremely pleasant Lucy Park salubrious nature communing walk. 

As you can see, via the above photo documentation, and below, the Wichita River is running high from the recent rains.

The Lucy Park backwoods jungle is totally flooded, again, rendering it not a pleasant location to wade through.

 As you can see, the river has almost reached being high enough to flood over the bridge.

I did not walk too far onto the bridge, due to the fact that the running high, fast moving river, combined with the swinging suspension bridge, renders me dizzy.

I sort of miss walking the Lucy Park backwoods jungle. It has long been my favorite local hiking location.

The jungle likely will not dry out to a walking level for a month or two, that is, if no more flooding rain arrives...

Hot Humid Lucy Park Sunday Catfishing

With the temperature hitting into the 80s, well before noon, on this final Sunday of the 2025 version of May, it was back to Lucy Park I trekked for some ultra-humid nature communing.

No that is not me sitting in the shade by the Lucy Park bridge over the Wichita River. I was a bit startled to see someone sitting there as I walked onto the bridge. 

Turns out the guy had a somewhat good reason to be sitting in that shade. Can you make out the fishing pole at a diagonal from his right elbow?

Wondering what type fish one was hoping to catch in this ultra-muddy river, I asked the fisherman what he was fishing for.

Catfish.

Yesterday he'd caught five.

So far, today, no luck.

The fisherman told me the five he caught yesterday were three different type catfish. The only name I remember was blue catfish. He said this was the most desirable catfish to catch in this river. Three of yesterday's five were blue catfish.

One of the five was a bottom feeder. I think the name was shovel catfish. All I remember for sure was he said this type catfish is the type with the muddy tasting reputation.

I have had catfish a couple times. I like most any type seafood.

Cod, crab, clams, oysters, shrimp, salmon, scallops, pollack, tuna.

But I have never partaken of any catfish which made me think it was tasty.

Anyway, I had myself a mighty fine time today getting some endorphins whilst nature communing in nature's natural sauna.

A thunderstorm is on the menu for later today. With flash flooding, strong winds and tornado conditions. Last night a thunderstorm woke me up at 2 in the morning. It lasted about an hour...

Dead Calm Sikes Lake Nature Communing After Last Night's Storms

Yesterday I did no nature communing, due to the weather not being pleasantly conducive to such an endeavor.

I did get some aerobic activity yesterday afternoon, dodging raindrops falling on the Walmart parking lot.

This morning, it being the next to last Friday morning of the current year's version of May, when dawn dawned the illumination revealed a thick fog had rolled in overnight, the type weather phenomenon one sees often when living near an ocean, but which rarely happens at my current location, hundreds of miles from any large bodies of water.

Around 7 last night a lightning strike struck close to my abode, with the resulting thunder being the loudest thunderclap boom I have ever experienced. My building shook like it was in rock and roll mode.

Around half past 10 this morning I ventured to Sikes Lake for some much-needed nature communing and its resulting endorphin acquisition.

As you can see, via the photo documentation at the top, looking west from the rocky beach on the east side of Sikes Lake, the weather conditions are currently totally calm, as in, dead calm, nary a ripple on the lake, rendering the lake's surface into mirror-like condition.

This current calm weather is predicted to end later today with the arrival of fresh thunderstorms.

Thursday Thunderstorming Getting Soaked At Walmart

Rain was dripping slightly a half hour before 5, this Thursday afternoon, when I left my abode to drive to Walmart.

Arriving at the Walmart parking lot rain was still dripping, but not copiously. I saw no reason to bring my umbrella into the store with me.

And then, about ten minutes into the store, a downpour began pouring down, copiously.

With hail.

Along with thunder booming.

The sound inside Walmart was like what it would likely be like to be inside a snare drum, when someone is pounding the drum.

As I self-checkout-ed the few items I'd collected, the noise grew significantly louder. The effect seemed sort of concussive.

By the time I got to the exit a crowd had gathered, waiting for the downpour to abate. I waited with them for about five minutes and then made a run for it.

Halfway to my vehicle I was soaked. But, the rain was warm, and hail had ceased pummeling, so getting totally soaked was not too miserable.

The photo documentation at the top is the view through my windshield after successfully making it back to my vehicle. 

Rain was still downpouring when I got back under my carport. The umbrella I wish I'd taken into Walmart with me, made the wet trek to my abode not another soaker. 

Trying To Keep Air-Conditioned With Strong Thursday Thunderstorms

Methinks I shall forego outdoor nature communing on this 4th Thursday of May.

Two hours before noon, and you can see, via the screencap, the outer world is already heated to 78 degrees, as measured by the Fahrenheit method.

Thunder is predicted to begin booming later today and continue to boom for several of the following days.

Today's predicted high is a relatively cool 86 degrees. That is only 8 degrees above what I have my interior space's air-cooling device set to.

That aforementioned interior space air-cooling device turned on right after I hit the period on the previous sentence. 

Before the temperature gets any HOTTER I need to get my morning Yoga routine over with...

Back Nature Communing At Sikes Lake With Wildflowers

With the temperature in the low 80s, as measured by the Fahrenheit method, on this third Wednesday of May, it was to Sikes Lake I ventured under an almost totally clear blue sky, to commune with nature, along with throngs of fellow nature communers communing with nature in various ways.

As you can see via the photo documentation, the April showers, plus the showers of May, have made for a bumper crop of wildflowers, this colorful, for Texas, time of the year.

I have no idea what brand of wildflower we are seeing here. It sort of looks like a sunflower, mixed with a daisy.

Today is the last day, for awhile, with no thunderstorming in the weather prediction.

Dizzy Suspense On Lucy Park Wichita River Suspension Bridge

Under a clear blue, free of clouds, sky, it was back to Lucy Park I ventured on this third Tuesday of May, for some nature communing and high-speed walking and the resulting endorphin acquisition.

When last I was at Lucy Park the suspension bridge over the Wichita River was closed, due to the flood.

The river is still running high, but the suspension bridge is back open.

Walking across the bridge was a bit unsettling, with the river up so high, and flowing fast. The swaying of the bridge, above the fast-flowing river had a dizzying effect I did not find too enjoyable.

But, I found the rest of today's walking, once I got off the bridge, to be totally enjoyable, partly due to the perfectly pleasant temperature being in the mid-70s.

Mostly Sunny Wichita Falls Monday With Possible Flooding Downpours, Hail & Tornadoes

For several days the weather predictors for my location have been predicting stormy weather, flooding downpours, hail, strong wind gusts.

And tornadoes.

But, those dire predictions have not become reality at my North Texas Wichita Falls location. Other than yesterday one short, as in less than ten minutes, bout of some rain falling.

So far today, as in Monday, May 19, the only part of today's weather prediction which has come to pass is there have been some extreme wind gusts. 

Currently the sky is gray, nothing blue to be seen. Some of the clouds look to be thunderstorm worthy. 

My only experience with clouds which produced some tornado action has been where the sky takes on ominous dark gray greenish hue. So far I am seeing nothing of that sort.

What with today being Monday, the tornado sirens should erupt in their weekly test mode around noon, a little over an hour from now.

Tornado sirens are extremely loud. Quite jarring if you are close to one when it goes off...  

Tomorrow It Will Be 45 Years Since Mount St. Helens Erupted

Tomorrow it will be 45 years since a big, loud bang boomed all over the Pacific Northwest, when Mount St. Helens erupted after week after week after week of rumbling and spewing steam.

I was soaking in a bathtub that morning, at my abode in Mount Vernon, about 160 miles north of the volcano, as a bird flies, when I heard three loud, concussive booms. Minutes later the next-door neighbor came over to inform us that the mountain had blown. 

That news that the mountain had blown was the start of a long day of non-stop news, on TV, on the radio, followed by many days of worry about possible ash issues.

By the time the mountain calmed down the Skagit Valley had not been showered with any significant ash, while other locations in Washington, mostly Eastern Washington, as in the east side of the Cascade Mountain range, got covered with a thick layer of volcanic ash.

Mount St. Helens came back to my attention this morning, via emails from my Favorite Nephew Jason, the first of which only consisted of the infamous video about the Mount St. Helens eruption, with the video featuring Harry Truman, who became famous in the Northwest due to his refusal to leave his Spirit Lake location in the shadow of the volcano.

Jason was only 11 months old when the mountain exploded. I replied to Jason's email with a link to one of my blog posts about Mount St. Helens, which included the Harry Truman video.

That blog post was titled Today's 34th Anniversary Of The Mount St. Helens Eruption Has Me Feeling Homesick.

I have flown over Mount St. Helens a few times flying back and forth from Texas to Washington.

I drove to the restricted zone weeks before the eruption. I could not get close enough to see the mountain.

It was not til the early 1990s that I drove back to the volcano. At that point in time one could access the blast zone from the north, via logging roads. It was so eerie, suddenly being in the blast zone with the forest of trees all knocked down, with the landscape void of any green vegetation of any sort. Eventually you got to a sort of overlook, looking down at the log choked remains of Spirit Lake.

The log choked remains of Spirit Lake is what we are looking down on in the photo documentation. I do not recollect if we got a good look at the actual volcano from this location.

The photo at the top was taken shortly before the move to Texas, late Summer of 1998, if I am remembering correctly. By then the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway had been built, with multiple visitor centers to visit on the way to the final visitor center, a large complex with an up-close look at the volcano.

I remember it as being closer than it looks in the photo documentation. I remember there was a well-done film telling the story of the eruption, with the finale of the film having the screen disappear revealing a huge window looking right at the crater. 

At least that is how I remember it. I really do not trust my memory, at times. I remember that as being a tiring day, a day which started at Seaside, Oregon.

Microsoft Sibling Memory From Over Half Century Ago

This totally delightful photo showed up this morning in my email, from Microsoft's OneDrive Memories from this Day.

The day in this photo is from so long ago I have no idea what day it actually may have been when this photo was taken. Or what year, other than being able to say, without remotely possibly being erroneous, that the photo was taken over half a century ago.

At that point in time, I only had two siblings, the one in the middle, my then little sister, Nancy, with my one and only little brother, Jake, on the right.

This particular photo is one of the few in which sister Nancy can be seen in some sort of dress garment. In later years pants became Nancy's signature leg covering garment.

I am also almost certain this photo was taken at the house, in Mount Vernon, Washington, we moved to, from Eugene, Oregon.

The house was located on what is now known as College Way, across the street from where Skagit Valley College is now located.

I have no idea where Microsoft found this photo. Is it on my computer? I do not know....